Close To The Edge
by Harlow J. Taylor
Summary: 2 years after their last job,the team has to come back from retirement to help out an extractor. But things get complicated when they find out that the extractor is no other than Cobb's sister-in-law and also Arthur's ex-fiancée, Melody. Arthur/OC
1. Melody

It was safe to say that Dominic Cobb wasn't going to do another job – ever. He finally had his life back on track, spending most of his time with his children and enjoying his fortune from the previous job. Cobb finally got the life that he wanted. He was at peace with his new girlfriend, two years after his last and probably most dangerous job. Well, that until he got the news that instantly made him change his mind about living in the ordinary ways.

"She did what?" he bellowed as Miles stood in front of him sharing the not so pleasant information with him.

"You know that she was always careless… She just went a bit too far this time and well, Saito offered her a job." The elderly man explained as he tried to stay as calm as possible. "You know that she always looked up to you and Mal. She always wanted to be like you all-"

"But she eventually became more than us, I know Miles." interrupted Cobb as he thought about his sister-in-law. He sighed and thought for a second. "How big of a mess is she in?"

"Well, she either accepts Saito's offer or she has to run until they catch her."

The extractor closed his eyes for a few seconds, breathing in and out a couple of times. Miles' youngest daughter always meant a lot to him, she was like his sister. Though after his wife's death the two of them became distant and eventually Mal's sister decided to leave Cobb's team and work on her own. She was always one of the best in the team.

Cobb looked at his mentor and asked the first thing that popped into his mind. "Has she gotten any better?"

Miles smiled as he answered. "She's better than even, Dom."

"I have to make a few calls."

Dominic knew that he had to help the woman now, but he wasn't sure how the others on the team would react to another job. And from what he heard, this is going to be their most dangerous project yet – especially if it involved their former associate, Mr. Saito.

About a week later the entire team was back at the headquarters in Paris. Neither of them knew what the new job was, Cobb only told them that he needed their help and that they would be working with Saito again.

Arthur and Ariadne arrived separately, surprising the rest of team. They quickly managed to explain that their relationship was strictly business and friendly, nothing more than that. Plus, Ariadne told everyone that she recently met a guy from the university and they have been dating for the past few months.

Eames arrived a little bit late and it seemed like he hasn't changed in the past two years. Actually, he looked like he has just gotten out of bed with his hair and clothes messy and out of place. Eames was just his usual self.

Just like him, Arthur hasn't changed a lot either. He wore a black three piece suit and his dark hair was the same, precisely slicked back and his face well shaved. Arthur was glad to be back working with the team, but he was a bit concerned since Cobb missed to provide him with the tiniest bit of information on this extraction. Or at least he hoped that it would be an extraction.

It was only the three of them until Cobb arrived with Saito about half an hour late. He looked worried and frustrated more than anything after Saito left rather quickly. It was obvious that the job Saito decided to offer them is a lot more than complicated. After a small talk between them Cobb thought that it was time to tell the team about the plan.

"I know that our previous job was supposed to be the last one and I wouldn't be asking for your help if this one wouldn't be an important case. This is most likely going to be dangerous, far more than our last inception." Dominic said as he stood in front of his teammates.

Ariadne seemed shocked by his last words. "Wait, another inception?"

"Neither of you has to do it. It's your choice, you can stay and do it or you can leave, no hard feelings." The extractor said looking at them. "Yusuf is in, he's arriving tomorrow."

"How many levels are we talking about, Dom?" asked Eames seriously, knowing the dangers of the inception.

"Three, just like last time. The task is almost the same. Our mark is a powerful business man from Cairo and we have to make him break up his empire in the oil business and also to give up on trying to get someone killed because of an unsuccessful extraction."

"Why do I have a feeling that we're trying the help the extractor?" Eames asked, smirking as he looked at his friend.

"Because we are. I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for saving her." Dom said shortly, not wanting to talk more about the subject. But Ariadne wasn't about to let it go just yet.

"Her?" she asked looking at Cobb surprised. "Who is she?"

Cobb remained silent, gaining the attention and the glare of the point man who could only think of one woman when it came to their business, especially if Cobb wanted to help her. He sighed loudly and held his head in his hands.

"Please tell me that it's not her, Cobb."

Just before he could answer, they heard the door of the apartment open and saw a tall, black haired woman hurried towards them dressed in high heels, skinny jeans, a cream colored blouse and a brown leather jacket. For a mere second Ariadne gasped as she noticed the resemblance between the woman and someone she hasn't seen for the last two years.

The woman was quick to put away what seemed like keys to her pocket and looked up only to have four pair of eyes staring at her, but she was only staring back at one dark pair of eyes as she stood there frozen. She didn't expect to see them so soon.

"_Melody_." Arthur whispered like he had seen a ghost.


	2. How Do You Know Him?

**A/N: Sorry for not updating sooner guys, I was really busy this past week! Anyways, I hope you're going to enjoy this chapter :) xoxo, HJ**

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Ariadne kept looking over at the woman whom she has not been introduced yet. It was obvious for her that there was and – in her opinion- there still is something going on between the black haired woman and the point man. The way Arthur and her both reacted when they saw each other was not the usual way to greet a long time no seen acquaintance.

For Ariadne, Arthur was always the man who had it all together. He was always collected and had a solution for every problem. That Arthur just seemed to disappear as soon as the woman that he earlier called Melody, walked in.

Melody seemed just plain flawless. She was tall and lean, but she had all the curves at the right places. Her long black hair reached down to the middle of her back and it was naturally wavy. Her make up wasn't done in any special way, Ariadne wasn't sure if she had any on at all. Sure, she had some mascara on but other than that nothing stood out. She had high cheek bones, perfectly arched eyebrows, full pink lips and a pair of blue eyes that any woman would kill for. She just seemed perfect, strong…invincible.

But Ariadne didn't know that was only a façade. Melody didn't let anyone see her weak. In a way she was a lot like Arthur. She nearly always had it together and there wasn't really a situation where she didn't know what to do. But in other ways she was the exact opposite of the point man. She was incredibly spontaneous and careless – basically that's what brought her back to Cobb.

Even now, Melody seemed strong from the outside, standing by the window of the headquarters, holding a glass of whiskey in her hands which was previously given to her by Eames. He said that it would help with her nerves. And now she really needed that.

She tried to keep herself together, but she knew that she wasn't far away from breaking down. She thought that things would go just fine, that it wouldn't hurt her to see any of them. She has never been more wrong in her entire life. It was one thing to see Cobb and Eames, but when she saw the man that once was hers, she almost lost it completely.

Arthur didn't say anything harsh to her. To be more precise, he didn't say anything to her at all. He didn't need to; Melody could always read him like a book. He seemed so broken and his eyes were filled pain and heartbreak, all over again. Once, that man was the most important person in her life and until this day, he still is.

"Don't be like that, love." She heard the smooth English voice call out to her, as he stood not far from her.

"I'm not being like anything, Eames." She chuckled softly, not looking at the forger.

She couldn't fool him, though. He knew her too well. "You are crossing your ankles – you do that when you're trying to compose yourself, also your knuckles are becoming white. You're holding onto that glass too tight, love."

Melody's lips curled into a slight smile as she turned to look at the Britt. "I missed you, sugar."

Eames winked at the young woman before saying, "Oh I know that, darling."

Ariadne felt someone standing next to her tense up at the playful tone that appeared between the forger and the yet unknown woman. She didn't need to look to know that the person is Arthur himself. But when she did she saw the color leave his face and a mixture of emotions appear on Arthur's face. It was anger, betrayal and… jealousy?

"You two were together, weren't you?" she asked him quietly, but he didn't answer. That kind of gave the 'yes' away. "Did she leave you for him? Is that why that two of you are always at each other's necks?"

Arthur shook his head and looked down to the blueprint that Ariadne was inspecting. "If only it was that simple… She didn't leave me for him. Eames and Mel, they're just best friends."

"Then why aren't you two together?" Ariadne asks, confused.

"I don't want to talk about it." Arthur said shortly and was quick to walk away from the young architect to do his job, while Ariadne also went back to designing and creating what they needed for the dream.

She was very much into the dream and didn't notice somebody walking up to her. She drawing something which looked very much alike their mark's mansion. When somebody cleared their throat, she snapped her head into their direction only to come face to face with the woman that she's previously asked Arthur about.

Melody smiled at the young architect warily, "I'm sorry for being rude before, but as you could see, I was quite shaken up myself."

"It's not a problem." Ariadne said genuinely, smiling softly back at the woman. "I'm Ariadne."

"Ariadne? Beautiful name you've got." She complimented and extended her hand to her. "My name is Melody."

Ariadne shook her hand, "Nice to meet you too, Melody."

The two grew quite for a few minutes as Melody observed what Ariadne was working on and meanwhile thought about how young the architect looked. She couldn't be older than 20, maybe 21.

"These are incredible." said Melody as she took a better look at the mazes that Ariadne has just finished up. Ariadne chuckled and politely thanked her, when Melody continued. "Seriously, even I couldn't create anything like this after all the years."

Now that was something that caught Ariadne's interest, "When did you start, you know, dreaming?"

Melody thought about that for a while. "Well, I know that I first dreamed with the guys when I was about 17. But I didn't work with them until I turned 18. But to be perfectly honest I don't remember the exact date, it was around the time that I met Dom and Arthur."

"How do you know him?"

"Dom or Arthur?" Melody asked smiling at the young girl. Ariadne reminded her of herself in so many ways; she used to be like her once.

"Both."

"Dom is my brother-in-law, Ariadne."


End file.
